Uttar Pradesh has always wielded political heft as it sends 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha and played a role of ‘king maker’ at the Centre since it came into being in 1950. The political significance of Uttar Pradesh can be gauged from the fact that it has provided the country with eight Prime Ministers, but remains one of the poorest and most backward states in what must be one of the cruelest ironies of Indian democracy.

In post-independence era, the first Chief Minister, Govind Ballabh Pant, renamed northern province as Uttar Pradesh. Pant was close to the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and enjoyed massive support in the Congress. India's first woman Chief Minister Sucheta Kripalani remained in office from October 1963 till March 1967. Later Chandra Bhanu Gupta took charge of the CM. MORE